BEHAVIORIST PERSPECTIVE AND VIOLENCE:Operant Conditioning

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ForensicPsychology (PSY - 513)

Lesson 14

BEHAVIORISTPERSPECTIVE AND VIOLENCE

Objectives:

To understand the basic concepts of operant conditioning

To understand the schedules of reinforcement

Fundamental Philosophical Issue

TheFundamental philosophical controversialIssue involved with the basic concept is that man is the

best of creation on earth while behavioristsare not giving them status more than an animal. We believe

man is more than an animal, butman commits violence like an animal. So, does have animalaspects?

HolyQuran talks about suchpeople:

Thereare people who livedlike four legged animals on this earth and yet there arepeople who arelike

birds, soaring up to the sky.

So there are many people whoare not better than animals and few people whoare like spiritsand

innocentbirds looking at the sky.

OperantConditioning

BF Skinner criticized that much of human learning is voluntary and intentional but Classical

conditioningonly targets involuntarybehaviors. So, operant conditioning is distinguished from

Pavlovianconditioning in that operant conditioningdeals with the modification of voluntary behavior

through the use of consequences, whilePavlovian conditioning dealswith the conditioning of

involuntarybehaviors.

Butbeing a behaviorist, Skinneralso believed that human arejust like animals so he alsoincorporated

rats and pigeons in his experiments to explain the human behavior. He took the notion of conditioned

reflexesdeveloped by Ivan Pavlov and applied it to the study of behavior.One of his best known

inventions is the Skinnerbox. It contains one or more levers which an animalcan press, one or more

stimuluslights and one or more places in which reinforcerslike food can be delivered.

Skinner's Experiment withrats

In one of Skinners' experiments a starved rat was introduced into the box. When the lever waspressed

by the rat a small pellet of food was dropped onto a tray. The rat soon learned that when he pressedthe

lever he would receive some food.In this

experiment the lever pressing behavior is

reinforced by food.

Thebasic features of experiment

Rat in a box presses a bar.

Food pellet would drop in the

box.

Rateats pellet.

Frequency of bar pressing

increases.

Anotherinteresting thing happenedthat even after fulfilling the hunger rat kept on pressing the bar.

Butwhen Skinner did notprovide any food at bar pressing, firstly ratdecreased the frequencybut

stoppedafter thousands and thousands of bar pressings.

Point to Ponder

Skinner concluded a very deep ratiocinationabout human behavior that if you have rewarded a person

initiallyfor performing any behavior and the person have learnt thatbehavior, he will persist on doing

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ForensicPsychology (PSY - 513)

thatbehavior whatever is learned. No matter it was wrong or immoral. And at this point we can find a

link between instrumental conditioning and violence.

In Extinctiona "particular behavior is weakened by the consequence of not experiencing a positive

condition or stopping a negativecondition".

No reinforcement leads to extinction.

Discrimination

If pressing the lever is reinforced(the rat gets food)when a light is on but notwhen it is off,responses

(pressing the lever) continue to be made in the light but seldom, if at all, in the dark. The rat hasformed

discrimination between light and dark. When one turns on the light, a response occurs,but that is not a

Pavlovianconditioned reflexresponse.

In this experiment Skinnerdemonstrated the ideas of "operantconditioning" and "shapingbehavior."

UnlikePavlov's "classical conditioning," where an existing behavior (salivatingfor food) is shaped by

associating it with a new stimulus(ringing of a bell or a metronome), operant conditioning is the

rewarding of an act that approaches a new desired behavior.

Skinnerapplied his findings about animals to human behavior and even developedteaching machines so

studentscould learn bit by bit,uncovering answers for an immediate "reward." Computer-based self-

instructionuses many of the principles of Skinner's technique.

Generalization

If green light is also accompanied by bar pressing the rat would press the bar, whenever observe green

light.And if button pressing alongwith bar pressing alsoproduces a food pallet, ratwould learn to press

the button too. So, stimulus generalization leads to response generalization.

ResponseDiscrimination

If only one activity among manyactivities is reinforced and othersare not then otheractivities relatively

decreases.

Green light --------------------------------------Food-------------------------------------bar pressingincreases

Redlight ------------------------------------NoFood----------------------------------- bar pressingdecreases

Human behavior explanation: human beings work for rewarded activitiesand leave unrewarded

activities.

Principals of Learning Theory

1. Learning by Association

Contiguity is the principle stating thatevents that occur togetherwill become associated.Giving a sugar

lump to a horse two minutes after a pat on the neck will not develop a useful association. The lump and

the pat have to arrive together if the pat is to become reinforcing. Timefactor is very important in

learning by association as basic connection is time. If there are longintervals in the action and reward, it

willnot lead to learning.

Action________________________Gap___________________________Reward

If action is not immediatelyfollowed by reward it willlead to in effective learning.One interesting

thing is that human beings can be rewarded by words and some time words are more important than any

physicalreward and result in more effective learning.

2. Association of stimulus and stimulus

Association of stimulus and stimulus develops by linking two stimuli.

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ForensicPsychology (PSY - 513)

Bell

_________________Food

Greenlight _______________

Food

3. Association of response andresponse

Association of stimulus and stimulus develops by linking tworesponses.

Barpressing _____________________________ Food

ButtonPressing __________________________ Food

4. Association chains

Chaininginvolves linking disconnected behaviorstogether in a series, doglearn to salivate at bellthen

at whistle and buzzer etc. so a behavioral chain is formed.

Schedules of Reinforcement

People do not get rewarded for all actions. People go to job for the wholemonth but get salary once at

the end of month. So Skinner challengedthat I will explain this human behavior with the help of

experiments on rats and devised the concept of Schedules of Reinforcement.

Stimuliare presented in the environmentaccording to a schedule of which there are two basic

categories:

1. Continuous

2. Intermittent

Continuous reinforcementsimply means that the behavior is followed by a consequenceeach time it

occurs.

Intermittentschedules arebased either on the

a. Passage of time

b. Number of correctresponses

Fixed Interval Schedule

VariableInterval Schedule

Fixed Ratio Schedule

VariableRatio Schedule

Fixed Interval Schedule

Thefirst correct response after a set amount of time haspassed is reinforced

Thetime period required is always thesame.

Schedulesdeliver reinforcement afterevery fixed and specific number of responses (like foodpallet

afterevery 15 bar presses). Thisschedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the

interval,but much slower respondingimmediately after the delivery of the reinforcer. (Frequency of bar

pressingincreases in the last minutes). People show good performance towards the end of month in the

organizationsthat award performance basedsalaries.

VariableInterval Schedule

Thefirst correct response after a set amount of time haspassed is reinforced

Afterthe reinforcement, a new time period (shorter or longer) is set withthe

average equaling a specific number over a sum total of trials.

Example: Pop quiz

ForensicPsychology (PSY - 513)

When a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time haspassed. This scheduleproduces

a slow, steady rate of response.(Food pallet some timeafter 5 minute and some timeafter 8 minutes)

Fixed Ratio Schedule

A reinforcer is given after a specifiednumber of correct responses. This schedule

is best for learning a new behavior.

Thenumber of correct responses required for reinforcement remains thesame.

Fixedratio schedule are those where a response is reinforced onlyafter a specified number of responses.

Thisschedule produces a high,steady rate of responding withonly a brief pause after the delivery of the

reinforcer.(Food pallet after every 15 bar pressings)

VariableRatio Schedule

After reinforcement the number of correctresponses necessary for reinforcement

changes. This schedule is best formaintaining behavior

Variableratio schedule occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.

Thisschedule creates a highsteady rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are goodexamples

of a reward based on a variableratio schedule.

Things to remember

1. Variable Ratio Schedulegenerated the most barpressing.

2. Variable Interval Schedulewas next best.

3. Then comes the Fixed Interval Schedule

4. Fixed Ratio Schedule produceslearning to the lowestdegree

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